UC-NRLF 


REPORT 


A  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED  TO  INVESTIGATE  THE  EVILS  OF 


LOTTERIES  S9 


In  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

;  ***>» H"> 


AND  TO  SUGGEST 


A  REMEDY  FOR  THE  SAME. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

PRINTED   BY   DANIEL   B.  SHRIEVE9. 

1831. 


PHILADELPHIA,  DECEMBER  12,  1831. 

AN  Adjourned  Meeting  of  Citizens  opposed '  t<>  •lj;0Ue&6s  wan 
iield  at  the  Supreme  Court  Room. 

B.  W.  RICHARDS  was  appointed  Chairman, ;QT>O  :  \  ; 

GEORGE  W.  TOLAND,  Secretary. 

W.  M.  Meredith,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  appointed  at  a 
previous  meeting,  stated  that  the  Committee  had  attended  to  the  duties 
assigned  them,  and  were  prepared  to  report. 

The  Report  was  read  by  George  M.  Stroud,  a  member  of  the 
Committee,  and  a  Memorial  to  the  Legislature,  by  William  M.  Mere- 
dith. 

The  Report  of  the  Committee  and  accompanying  Memorial  to 
the  Legislature  were  adopted  unanimously. 

The  following  resolutions  were  also  unanimously  adopted. 
Resolved,  That  ten  thousand  copies  of  the  Report  be  printed  in 
pamphlet  form. 

Resolved,  That  the  Memorial  be  published  in  the  daily  news- 
papers of  the  city. 

Resolved,  That  a  Committee  be  appointed  to  collect  further  in- 
formation, to  superintend  the  printing  of  the  Report  and  Memorial, 
and  to  take  all  such  further  measures  as  they  may  deem  best  calcu- 
lated to  promote  the  objects  of  the  meeting. 

The  following  named  gentlemen  were  appointed  the  Committee : 
B.  W.  Richards,  W.  M.  Meredith,  George  M.  Stroud,  Isaac  Collins, 
Samuel  C.  Atkinson,  Daniel  B.  Smith,  Edward  Yarnall,  Robert 
Earp,  Timothy  Abbott,  B.  Matthias,  Jesse  R.  Torrey,  Jr.,  William 
Hodgson,  Isaiah  Hacker,  Charles  Yarnall,  Thomas  Earp,  Daniel  B. 
Shrieves,  George  W.  Toland. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting  be  published  in 
the  daily  newspapers  of  the  city. 

B.  W.  RICHARDS,  Chairman. 
GEORGE  W.  TOLAND,  Secretary. 

The  following  is  the  Report,  directed  to  be  published  in  the 
first  of  the  foregoing  resolutions. 


974903 


The  Committee  appointed  to  investigate  the  evils  of  Lotteries,  and  to 
suggest  a  remedy  for  tlie  samet  respectfully  submit  the  following 

REPORT: 

That,  in  their  endeavors  to  fulfil  the  purposes  of  their  appointment, 

they  have  directed  their  inquiries  to  the  ascertainment,  First,  Of  the 

,- character  aad  oxicnt  of  the  privilege  granted  by  the  laws  of  this 

•Commonwealth'  for  raising  money  by  lottery.     Secondly,  Of  the 

.;e£teafr  <5f  lottery  transactions  prosecuted  under  the  pretext  of  this 

•privite'ge:  l  Thirdly,"  Of  the  extent  of  lottery  transactions  expressly 

prohibited  by  our  laws,  and  Fourthly,  Of  the  evils  to  the  community 

arising  from  the  two  last  named  sources. 

In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  inquiries,  it  may  be  premised,  that 
the  privilege  of  raising  money  by  lottery  is  wholly  denied  by  our  laws 
except  to  "  The  Union  Canal  Company."  The  attention  of  the  Com- 
mittee has  therefore  been  confined,  on  this  branch  of  their  labors, 
to  an  examination  of  the  privilege  which  is  claimed  for  this  purpose 
by  that  company.  And  your  Committee  feel  themselves  justified  in 
saying,  that,  from  the  best  light  which  they  can  obtain  on  the  subject, 
even  this  company,  at  the  present  time,  has  no  right  to  the  exercise  of 
this  privilege.  The  reasons  for  this  opinion  they  will  lay  before  the 
meeting,  with  as  much  brevity  as  the  nature  of  the  investigation  will 
permit. 

By  act  of  Assembly  of  the  17th  of  April,  1795,  authority  was  given 
to  the  Schuylkill  and  Susquehanna  Navigation  Company  and  the  Dela- 
ware and  Schuylkill  Navigation  Company,  to  raise,  by  way  of  lottery, 
the  sum  of  $400,000.  Under  this  grant,  $  60,000  were  raised,  when, 
on  petition  of  these  companies,  they  became  united,  and  were  in- 
corporated by  act  of  the  Legislature,  dated  April  2,  1811,  under  the 
name  of  "  The  Union  Canal  Company."  All  preceding  laws  relative 
to  the  companies  so  united  were,  by  this  act,  expressly  repealed. 

The  28th  section  of  this  last  act  empowered  the  Union  Canal 
Company  to  raise  by  lottery  $  340,000,  the  residue  of  the  original 
grant  to  the  two  companies  when  distinct.  This  sum  the  company 
was  authorized  to  raise  by  means  of  an  agent,  on  such  terms  as 
might  be  thought  fit,  or  to  sell  and  assign,  in  whole  or  in  part,  to 
any  person  or  corporation,  its  right  to  raise  the  same,  upon  any 
scheme  or  plan  of  lottery  which  the  Managers  might  from  time  to 
time  sanction  ;  such  purchaser  or  assignee  to  be  vested,  for  the  term 
so  acquired,  with  the  same  rights  and  privileges  as  were  possessed 
by  the  company. 

From  causes  not  necessary  to  be  noticed,  although  authority  was 


Conferred  to  increase  the  stock  of  the  company  to  any  extent  that 
might  be  thought  advisable,  no  subscription  of  stock  appears  to  have 
taken  place  under  the  act  of  1811;  and  when,  in  1819,  in  compli- 
ance with  a  call  of  the  Legislature,  an  abstract  of  the  accounts  of 
the  company  was  submitted  to  that  body,  the  only  funds  which  it 
possessed  were  found  to  be  a  small  balance  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
lottery.  Under  these  circumstances,  on  the  29th  of  March,  1819, 
a  supplement  was  passed  to  the  act  of  1811,  which  changed  essen- 
tially the  features  of  this  act.  It  destroyed  the  old  Board  of  Mana- 
gers, and  created  a  new  one.  It  authorized  a  specific  augmentation 
of  the  shares  of  the  company,  so  as  to  produce  the  sum  of  $  500,000  ; 
and,  to  induce  the  subscription  of  these,  pledged  the  avails  of  the 
lottery  granted  by  the  act  of  1811,  as  a  fund  for  the  payment  of  an 
annual  interest  of  six  per  cent,  upon  the  stock  which  might  be  thus 
obtained.  By  this  provision,  it  annulled  a  right  sanctioned  by  the 
26th  section  of  the  former  act,  of  borrowing  money  on  the  faith  of 
the  lottery  privilege  conferred  by  the  same  act. 

Even  the  encouragement  thus  held  forth  proved  unavailing ;  and 
it  was  not  till  after  the  passing  of  the  "  Act  for  the  improvement  of 
the  State/'  on  the  26th  of  March,  1821,  that  the  requisite  amount 
of  stock  was  subscribed.  Additional  modifications  of  the  lottery 
privilege  were  made  by  this  act  also,  and  the  provisions  on  this  sub- 
ject which  it  contains,  constitute  the  sole  authority  for  raising 
money  by  this  means,  which  can  legally  be  claimed  by  the  Union 
Canal  Company.  It  is  incumbent  upon  us,  therefore,  to  state  the 
provisions  of  this  law  with  considerable  minuteness.  It  enacts,  that 
whenever,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  act,  &c.,  passed  the  29th 
day  of  March,  1819,  2,250  shares  shall  have  been  subscribed  to  the 
capital  stock  of  the  Union  Canal  Company  of  Pennsylvania,  the 
Governor  of  this  Commonwealth  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized 
and  required  to  subscribe,  in  behalf  thereof,  for  250  shares  of  the 
stock  of  said  company,  &c.  And  if  the  proceeds  of  the  lottery  grant- 
ed to  the  Union  Canal  Company,  together  with  the  tolls  which  may 
be  collected,  shall  not  hereafter,  from  year  to  year,  for  the  period  of 
twenty-five  years,  yield  a  sum  equal  to  an  annual  interest  of  6  per 
cent,  upon  all  sums  not  exceeding  in  amount  $  450,000,  which  may 
be  subscribed  by  new  subscribers  as  aforesaid,  and  paid  according 
to  law  to  the  capital  stock  of  the  said  company,  the  Governor  shall, 
from  year  to  year,  for  the  term  of  twenty-five  years,  whenever  it  shall 
appear  to  his  satisfaction  that  such  disability  exists,  draw  his  war- 
rant on  the  State  Treasurer  in  favor  of  the  said  Board  of  Managers 
for  the  amount  of  such  deficiency  :  which  money  shall  be  applied  to 


6 

the  payment  of  an  annual  interest  of  six  per  cent,  to  such  new  sub- 
scribers; and  the  faith  of  the  Commonwealth  is  hereby  pledged,  for 
the  term  of  twenty-five  years,  for  the  full  and  punctual  payment  of 
said  interest :  Provided,  &c.  that  each  subscriber  shall  be  entitled 
to  interest  only  from  the  time  of  the  actual  payment  of  each  instal- 
ment (of  the  shares)  respectively.  And  in  order  to  avoid,  as  far  as 
possible,  all  disability  to  pay  such  interest,  so  much  of  the  3d  section 
of  the  act  aforesaid  as  pledges  any  portion  of  the  avails  or  nett  pro- 
ceeds of  the  lottery  aforesaid  to  the  payment  of  an  annual  interest 
to  the  holders  of  shares  not  forfeited  in  the  late  Delaware  and  Schuyl- 
kill  and  Schuylkill  and  Susqtiehanna  Canal  Companies,  be,  and  the 
same  is  hereby,  suspended,  until  the  canal  shall  be  completed ;  and 
the  President  and  Managers  of  said  company  shall  be,  and  and  they 
are  hereby,  authorized  to  continue,  during  the  said  term  of  twenty- 
five  years,  to  raise,  by  way  of  lottery,  any  sums  that  may  be  wanted 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  to  the  holders  of  said  stock  six  per  cent. 
as" aforesaid:  Provided,  That  whenever  the  nett  proceeds  of  the  tolls 
shall  amount  to  the  said  six  per  cent,  the  privilege  hereby  granted, 
of  raising  money  by  lottery,  shall,  during  such  time,  be  suspended, 
except  so  far  as  is  authorized  by  existing  laws ;  and  it  shall  in  no 
event  be  lawful  to  divide  any  sum  arising  from  the  lottery,  over  and 
above  six  per  cent,  upon  the  stock  of  said  company,  it  being  the  in- 
tent and  meaning  of  this  act,  that  all  such  excess  shall  be  reserved 
to  meet  any  deficiency  thereof  that  may  at  any  time  occur  in  the  tolls, 
as  aforesaid" 

The  multiplicity  of  contingencies  provided  for  in  this  section,  has 
rendered  its  meaning  less  obvious  than  is  usual,  or  altogether  con- 
sistent with  discreet  legislation.  A  slight  analysis,  however,  removes 
all  obscurity,  so  far  as  concerns  the  present  inquiry. 

In  its  cardinal  object,  the  creation  of  stock  to  the  amount  of  half 
a  million  of  dollars,  this  act  is  identical  with  that  of  1819.  Its  distin- 
guisMng  feature  is  the  guarantee,  on  the  part  of  the  State,  for  25  years, 
of  the  annual  interest  of  6  per  cent,  on  2,250  shares  of  such  stock. 
The  residue  of  the  section  is  taken  up  with  devising  the  means  of 
redeeming  this  guarantee  without  bringing  a  charge  on  the  public 
treasury.  The  lottery  system  is  resorted  to  for  this  purpose.  On 
these  two  subjects — the  protection  of  the  public  treasury,  and  the 
lottery  grants — the  anxiety  of  the  Legislature,  if  we  may  so  speak,  is 
excessive.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  plain  that  the  treasury  is,  if  possi- 
ble, to  be  preserved  untouched,  while  a  jealousy  scarcely  less  vigilant, 
is  exercised  to  prevent  the  extension  of  the  lottery  privileges  beyond 
the  purpose  of  the  Legislature.  What,  then,  is  the  precise  extent  of 


'7 

these  lottery  privileges  as  conferred  by  this  act  1  After  a  careful 
examination,  your  Committee  are  satisfied,  that  nothing  more  is  in- 
tended to  be  granted  than  is  necessary  to  guard  the  State  against  the 
guarantee  which  she  assumes;  and  this,  obviously,  cannot  exceed 
27,000  dollars  annually  for  25  years,  or  until  the  tolls  of  the  Canal 
shall  be  adequate  to  the  payment  of  6  per  cent,  interest  on  the  stock 
of  the  Canal,  should  such  an  augmentation  occur  before  the  expira- 
tion of  that  period.  That  this  limitation  is  imposed  upon  the  lottery 
privileges,  is  evidenced  by  an  affirmative  declaration  in  immediate 
connexion  with  the  first  mention  of  the  guarantee,  and  subsequently 
by  the  rsstriction,  that  "  it  shall  in  no  event  be  lawful  to  divide  any 
sum  arising  from  the  lottery  over  and  above  six  per  cent,  upon  the 
stock  of  said  Company,  it  being  the  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act 
that  all  sucJt,  excess  shall  be  reserved  to  meet  any  DEFICIENCY  thereof 
that  may  at  any  time  occur  in  the  tolls  as  aforesaid." 

Two  lottery  grants  are,  unquestionably,  recognized  in  this  law— ~ 
not,  however,  to  be  exercised  concurrently  and  at  all  events — but,  on 
the  contrary,  one  is  to  be  postponed  until  the  other  shall  have  been 
exhausted,  and  then  used  to  a  very  limited  extent,  and  on  a  specified 
and  doubtful  contingency.  Recourse  isjirst  to  be  had  to  the  residue 
of  the  existing  grant  to  the  company  under  the  act  of  1811.  A  dis- 
position very  similar  had  been  directed  of  the  same  fund  by  the  act 
of  1819.  The  variation  consists  chiefly  in  a  slight  diminution  of  the 
appropriation  then  made. 

It  was  apparent,  however,  that  should  the  whole  of  the  guarantied 
interest  for  the  entire  term  of  25  years  be  required,  some  further  pro- 
vision would  be  demanded.  Accordingly,  it  is  distinctly  enunciated, 
"  in  order  to  avoid t  as  far  as  possible,  all  disability  to  pay  SUCH  IN- 
TEREST, &c.,  the  President  and  Managers  of  said  Company  shall  be 
authorized  to  CONTINUE  during  the  said  term  of  25  years,  to  raise,  by 
way  of  lottery,  any  sums  that  may  be  wanted  for  the  purpose  of  paying  to 
the  holders  of  said  stock  6  per  cent,  as  aforesaid."  On  this  contingen- 
cy, for  this  purpose,  and  to  this  extent  only,  is  the  second  grant  autho- 
rized. Your  Committee  are  unable  to  discover  that  any  other  inter- 
pretation consistent  with  the  scope  and  spirit  of  this  enactment,  or 
not  in  direct  conflict  with  its  reiterated  restrictions  and  limitations, 
can  be  placed  upon  it.  And  they  would  have  deemed  it  supererog- 
atory to  have  said  this  much  on  the  subject,  but  that  a  highly  respect- 
able Committee  of  the  Legislature,  during  the  last  winter,  in  a  re- 
port which  has  been  very  widely  circulated,  have  offered  an  unhesita- 
ting and  wholly  contradictory  exposition. 

An  authority  so  imposing  would  seem  to  demand  a  more  defi- 


8 

nite  and  prolonged  discussion,  but,  unfortunately  for  this  purpose,  no 
reasons  are  assigned  in  the  report,  nor  the  least  indication  given  to 
the  probable  arguments  by  which  so  important  a  conclusion  has  been 
evolved.  Your  Committee,  therefore,  assuming  the  correctness  of 
their  own  construction  of  the  law,  will  proceed  to  state  the  facts  con- 
nected with  the  exercise  of  the  lottery  privileges  by  the  Union  Ca- 
nal Company,  so  far  as  they  have  an  application  to  this  inquiry,  in 
order  that  the  accuracy  of  the  opinion  before  expressed,  namely, 
"  that  this  Company  at  the  present  time,  has  no  right  to  the  exercise 
of  lottery  privileges,"  may  the  more  readily  be  tested. 

By  a  statement  furnished  last  winter,  by  the  Company  to  the  Le- 
gislature, it  appears,  that  136,250  dollars  had  been  raised  by  lottery, 
between  April  2,  1811,  aud  March  17,  1821,  leaving  203,750  dolls. 
of  the  old  grant  to  be  received  and  appropriated  according  to  the  di- 
rections of  the  act  of  1821 — i.  c.,  in  paying  the  annual  interest  for 
which  the  State  had  given  her  guarantee,  and  which,  in  no  event, 
could  exceed  27,000  dollars  per  year.  The  same  statement  shows 
that  231,710  2-5  dollars  had  been  realized  by  the  Company  as  "  nett 
proceeds  of  the  lotteries  from  January  16th,  1822,  to  December  25th, 
1830,"  being  27,960  2-5  dollars  more  than  the  original  grant  autho- 
rized, and  which,  therefore,  must  have  been  raised  in  virtue  of  the  sc- 
cond  grant.  This  latter  grant,  by  the  very  terms  which  authorize 
it,  is  restricted  to  the  raising  of,  at  most,  27,000  dollars  annually, 
and  then  only  in  case  of  a  deficiency  of  funds  for  the  payment 
of  the  interest  guarantied  by  the  State.  No  such  deficiency  did 
exist  when  this  last  amount  was  drawn — on  the  contrary,  the 
statement  above  referred  to  exhibits,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1830,  a 
balance  of  the  lottery  fund,  after  the  payment  of  all  the  interest  guar- 
antied, of  73,677  dollars,  and  46cZs.  in  the  hands  of  the  Company.  It 
results,  therefore,  that  the  whole  of  the  lottery  business  carried  on  in 
this  Commonwealth  since  the  commencement  of  1830,  has  been  of 
doubtful  legality,  if  not  an  unequivocal  violation  of  positive  Legisla- 
tive enactments. 

The  report  just  noticed,  contains  another  statement,  which,  if  cor- 
rect, as  there  applied,  would  oppose  a  formidable  obstacle  to  the  con- 
clusion of  your  Committee.  It  is  gravely  said  "  By  the  act  of  1811,  the 
Company  were  authorized  to  raise,  by  way  of  loan,  any  sums  required, 
and  to  mortgage  the  nett  proceeds  and  avails  of  the  lotteries.  Under 
this  express  authority  they  have  mortgaged  this  lottery  privilege 
for  money  lent,  (borrowed)  :  Third  persons  are  thus  interested, 
with  whom  the  State  have  authorized  the  Company  to  become  in- 
volved." It  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  a  provision  of  the  kind  indi- 


9 

eated  in  this  quotation,  is  found  in  the  act  of  181 1.  But  it  is  revoked, 
as  has  been  already  incidentally  stated,  by  the  act  of  1819,  and  the 
abstract  of  the  accounts  of  the  Company,  furnished  to  the  Legisla- 
ture during  the  session  at  which  this  latter  act  was  passed,  exhibits 
no  proof,  but  the  direct  contrary,  of  the  existence  of  such  a  loan  and 
such  a  pledge,  at  that  period. 

And  if  a  further  answer  be  desired,  it  may  be  found  in  the  consi- 
deration that  the  lottery,  the  proceeds  of  which  were  authorized  to  be 
pledged  for  borrowed  money,  was  that  granted  by  the  act  of  1811,  the 
full  amount  of  which,  it  has  been  shown,  has  been  drawn  by  the 
Company. 

A  contract  with  Yates  &  JVTIntyre,  of  New  York,  by  which  the 
Company  has  tranferred  its  lottery  privileges  till  the  end  of  the  cur- 
rent year,  is  also  stated  in  the  report,  as  an  obstacle  to  the  abolition 
of  the  lottery  system.  As  the  lapse  of  a  few  weeks  must  remove  this 
obstacle,  your  Committee  would  have  contented  themselves  without 
a  specific  notice  of  it,  had  they  not  been  apprized,  by  the  recent  Mes- 
sage of  the  Executive,  that  a  similar  contract  had  been  again  entered 
into  by  the  Company.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  to  say,  that  the  As- 
signee of  the  Company  cau  have  no  better  right  than  the  Company 
itself,  by  the  very  language  of  the  act 

Perhaps,  however,  another  ground  may  be  assumed  to  Uphold  this 
privilege.  It  may  be  said,  that  the  proceeds  of  the  lottery  grant  of 
1811,  were  in  part  pledged  by  the  act  of  1819,  for  the  payment  of  the 
interest  on  the  unforfeited  shares  in  the  original  companies,  and  that 
the  only  alteration  intended  to  be  made  by  the  act  of  1821  in  this 
appropriation,  is  to  suspend  it  till  the  completion  of  the  canal,  and  that 
having  now  taken  place,  this  suspension  has  ceased.  The  language 
of  the  act  certainly  affords  some  countenance  to  this  interpretation. 
Nevertheless,  it  would  conflict  with  the  main  purpose,  again  and 
again  indicated  in  different  parts  of  the  same  section,  to  provide 
merely  for  the  new  stock  of  450,000  dollars;  and,  according  to  the 
Company's  statement  of  the  disbursement  of  the  lottery  funds,  no 
interest  has  been  paid  on  the  unforfeited  shares.  A  practical  expo- 
sition, therefore,  so  far  as  depended  on  the  Company,  has  been  given 
by  it,  militating  against  this  claim.  Its  legality  is  in  a  course 
of  judicial  investigation,  and  will  probably  be  soon  determined. 

But,  whether  this  claim  be  well  or  ill-founded,  it  is  plain,  that  it  is 
to  be  restricted  to  the  proceeds  of  the  first  lottery  grant — and  this  has 
been  exhausted,  as  already  mentioned.  And,  at  all  events,  the  num- 
ber of  the  unforfeited  shares,  if  there  be  any  free  from  dispute,  is  ad- 
mitted to  be  very  small — so  small,  indeed,  that  the  sum  required 
3 


10 

for  interest  on  the  aggregate  stock  of  the  Company,  should  these  be 
included,  would  probably  be  less  than  30,000  dollars  annually. 

Such  being  the  views  of  the  Committee  on  the  laws  relative  to 
this  branch  of  inquiry,  it  may  be  added,  that,  from  the  data  furnished 
by  the  accounts  of  'the  Company,  as  laid  before  the  Legislature  last 
winter,  the  surplus  on  hand  of  the  proceeds  of  the  lotteries  is  at  this 
time  72,177  dollars  and  46  cents — a  sum  sufficient  to  defray  the 
27,000  dollars  of  annual  interest  for  two  years  and  two  thirds — and 
30,000  dollars  of  like  interest  for  nearly  two  and  a  half  years — at  the 
end  of  either  of  which  periods  the  strongest  probability  exists,  that 
the  tolls  of  the  Canal,  which,  during  the  last  year,  exceeded  59,000 
dollars,  will  be  so  increased  as  to  dispense  forever  with  the  aid  of 
the  lotteries. 

In  the  foregoing  remarks,  it  will  be  observed,  your  Committee 
have  regarded  the  statement  of  the  Company,  in  respect  to  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  lotteries,  as  exhibiting  the  true  and  full  amount  of  mo- 
neys raised  under  the  lottery  grants.  But  it  is  deemed  important  to 
state  that  there  is  another  point  of  view  in  which  this  subject  may 
be  considered,  worthy  of  the  most  serious  notice  of  the  Company, 
inasmuch  as,  if  correct,  the  drawings  of  these  lotteries,  for  many 
years  past,  have  been  in  contravention  of  law.  The  grant  of  the 
act  of  1811,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  to  raise  by  lottery  340,000 
dollars — and  the  contingent  grant  of  1821,  authorizes,  at  most, 
27,000  dollars  a  year.  In  the  accounts  of  the  Company,  the  usual 
deduction  of  15  per  cent,  on  the  value  of  the  scheme,  is  not  de- 
bited to  it,  as  the  amount  actually  raised  by  the  lottery,  but  less  than 
the  twentieth  part  of  this  sum  ;  being,  it  is  understood,  the  conside- 
ration paid  by  the  Assignees  of  the  Company,  for  the  right  to  use  its 
lottery  privileges.  Thus,  as  will  be  more  particularly  mentioned  in 
a  subsequent  part  of  this  report,  while  the  Assignees  of  the  Company 
are  entitled,  according  to  the  schemes  published,  to  more  than 
800,000  dollars  annually,  the  Company  debits  itself  with  but  30,000 
dollars  in  the  same  period.  It  is  thought  that  the  construction  which 
this  mode  of  stating  the  account  presumes,  will  be  found  very  diffi- 
cult to  sustain.  But,  as  your  Committee  persuade  themselves  it  has 
been  satisfactorily  shown  that,  even  on  the  Company's  own  princi- 
ple, the  continuance  of  the  lotteries  is  not  authorized,  they  excuse 
themselves  from  the  further  notice  of  this  topic. 

Our  second  inquiry  relates  to  the  extent  of  lottery  transactions 
prosecuted  under  pretext  of  the  privilege  claimed  by  the  Union  Canal 
Company,  to  raise  money  in  this  manner. 


11 

To  ascertain  the  precise  number  of  tickets  of  the  Union  Canal 
Lotteries  which  are  sold  in  a  given  time  within  this  Commonwealth, 
is  obviously  impracticable  by  any  means  possessed  by  the  Committee. 
The  number  of  schemes  drawn  in  a  single  year,  and  the  value  of 
them,  furnish  the  best  data  that  can  be  easily  obtained.  Any  one 
attentive  to  the  subject  will  have  learned,  that  this  lottery  is  drawn 
every  two  weeks  throughout  the  year,  and  that  the  schemes  consist, 
alternately,  of  34,220  tickets,  at  four  dollars,  and  the  like  number  at 
eight  dollars,  making,  in  each  of  the  smaller  class  of  schemes, 
$  136,830,  and  in  each  of  the  larger  class,  $  273,760 ;  the  aggre- 
gate of  which,  multiplied  by  13,  produces  $5,338,220; — the  actual 
amount  of  tickets  offered  for  sale  by  this  Company  at  the  scheme 
price,  during  the  last  as  well  as  several  preceding  years.  To  this  is 
to  be  added  25  per  cent.,  the  usual  enhancemeut  at  retail,  as  may 
be  seen  by  inspection  of  any  of  our  daily  newspapers. 

In  respect  to  the  third  inquiry,  the  same  remark,  as  to  the  im- 
practicability of  stating  the  precise  amount  of  tickets  sold,  is  espe- 
cially applicable.  The  unauthorized  lotteries  are  believed  to  consist, 
exclusively  or  nearly  so,  of  such  as  are  sanctioned,  or  pretended  to 
be,  by  some  one  of  our  sister  States.  Till  very  recently,  the  number 
of  these  lotteries,  tickets  of  which  were  vended  with  but  little  or  no 
restraint  in  this  city,  was  at  least  fifteen.  These,  together  with  the 
Union  Canal  Lottery,  draw  eight  times  a  week,  throughout  the  year. 

The  number  of  lottery  offices  in  this  city  and  liberties,  for  the 
sale  of  all  kinds  of  tickets,  has  been  ascertained  to  be  one  hundred  and 
seventy-seven.  These,  severally,  employ,  on  an  average,  it  is  believed, 
two  persons,  while  perhaps  an  equal  number  of  itinerant  venders 
traverse  the  city  in  every  direction — visit  the  stalls  in  the  market — the 
taverns  and  other  places  of  public  resort — penetrate  within  the  stores 
and  shops  of  the  merchant  and  mechanic ;  and  even  the  domestic 
abodes  of  our  citizens  are  not  exempt  from  their  intrusion. 

In  entering  upon  the  next  topic — the  evils  of  lotteries — an  appal- 
ling picture  of  vice  and  crime,  and  misery,  in  every  varied  form,  is 
presented  to  the  mind.  Husbands  and  fathers  of  families,  respected 
through  a  long  and  well-sustained  course  of  years,  have,  at  length, 
by  the  mastering  influence  of  this  delusive  enticement,  been  seduced 
from  their  integrity,  and  brought  to  end  their  days  the  tenants  of  a 
prison,  under  the  just  sentence  of  deep  and  complicated  guilt.  Others 
in  the  prime  of  life,  holding  important  pecuniary  trusts,  have  become 
adventurers  by  little  and  little,  till  their  own  resources  have  been 
swept  away,  and  then,  for  the  desperate  chance  of  retrieving  their 
losses,  have  betrayed  the  confidence  of  their  station — been  detected 


12 

and  disgraced — ar*4,  ultimately,  forced  from  the  bosom  of  their  fami- 
lies and  their  homes,  disrupturing  the  closest  and  most  sacred  ties 
of  nature  and  affinity,  and  leaving  those  whom  they  ought  to  have  pro- 
tected, a  charge  on  the  community.  Numerous  instances  could  be 
adduced  of  those  yet  in  boyhood — apprentices  and  clerks — who, 
singly  or  in  combination,  have  purloined  the  property  of  their  mas- 
ters and  employers,  to  meet  the  demands  of  continued  disappoint- 
ment in  lottery  speculations.  A  fourth  class  might  be  mentioned, 
consisting  of  young  men  just  freed  from  the  control  of  guardians  and 
friends,  with  a  sufficient  patrimonial  inheritance  to  enable  them  to 
employ  their  time  and  talents  usefully  to  the  community,  and  advan- 
tageously and  honorably  to  themselves;  but  who,  ignorant  of  the  true 
character  of  lottery  schemes,  have  deliberately  invested  their  all,  in 
order  to  realize  the  sudden,  certain,  and  independent  fortunes,  which 
are  so  lavishly  promised  at  almost  every  step  they  take. 

Examples  the  most  affecting  and  admonitory  might  easily  be  cited 
in  all  of  these  classes,  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  last,  could  be 
done,  perhaps,  in  no  case,  without  inflicting  unnecessary  pain  to  re- 
latives and  friends.  A  single  instance,  however,  of  this  excepted 
class,  derived  in  the  most  authentic  manner,  involving  no  crimi- 
nal imputation,  and  relating  to  an  individual  now  no  more,  the 
Committtee  believe  may  with  propriety  be  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  meeting.  The  narrative  is  short,  and  is  found  in  a  petition 
for  the  benefit  of  the  insolvent  laws,  signed,  as  usual,  by  the  applicant, 
and  delivered  under  the  responsibility  of  an  oath.  It  is  in  these 
words:  "  The  petitioner  became  of  age  on  the  24th  December, 
1828,  and  immediately  commenced  speculations  in  lottery  tickets 
that  he  received  from  different  sources  other  than  from  lotteries,  and 
at  different  times,  about  975  dollars;  the  greater  part  of  which  he  ei- 
ther laid  out  for  tickets,  or  paid  on  account  of  tickets  which  he  had 
before  purchased :  That  he  drew,  at  various  times,  prizes  to  the 
amount  of  4000  dolls.,  which  he  invested  as  soon  as  received,  in  other 
tickets,  or  paid  for,  or  on  account  of  those  which  he  had  purchased 
before:  That  he  has  sunk  in  these  speculations,  in  the  short  period  of 
six  months,  all  that  he  had,  and  has  left  him  upwards  of  3300  dollars 
in  debt  beyond  his  means  to  pay."  The  Committee  have  no  reason 
to  believe  that  this  is  the  most  striking  example  of  the  kind  which 
could  be  exhibited.  The  class  to  which  it  belongs  must  embrace 
numbers;  for  so  rapidly  do  the  drawings  of  the  different  lotteries  suc- 
ceed each  other  at  the  present  time,  that  it  has  become  a  standing 
sign  at  many  offices  in  this  city,  "  LOTTERY  DRAWS  TO-DAY" — a  no- 
tification which  is  distinguished  from  almost  every  thing  else  con- 


13 

nected  with  these  establishments,  by  being  literally  true  ! !  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  hundreds  of  individuals  should  be  found,  of  the 
thoughtless,  the  idle,  the  inexperienced,  and  the  profligate,  who  con- 
sume their  whole  time,  and  risk  their  whole  means  in  lottery  adventures 
as  their  only  vocation.  From  the  vast  amount  of  money  necessarily 
expended  to  warrant  such  daily — or,  as  might  almost  be  said,  semi-dai- 
ly drawings,  entire  confidence  may  be  placed  in  this  inference,  al- 
though, from  the  nature  of  the  scrutiny,  but  little  positive  information 
could  be  expected  from  the  Committee. 

That  hundreds  have  become  impoverished  by  lotteries,  the  re- 
cords of  the  Insolvent  Courts  incontestably  prove.  That  our  Pene- 
tentiaries  have  been  supplied  with  many  inmates  from  the  same 
source,  is  alike  susceptible  of  demonstration.  That  the  number  of 
idlers,  spendthrifts,  and  gamblers  of  every  description,  has  been  daily 
augmenting  amongst  us,  no  one  not  wholly  unobservant  and  indiffe- 
rent to  what  is  passing  around  him,  can  have  failed  to  notice  and  de- 
plore. Let  the  true  history  of  all  these  be  investigated,  and  it  will 
be  found,  that  however  differing  from  each  other  in  the  shades  and 
casts  of  character — however  various  may  have  been  their  original  pur- 
suits— yet  here,  they  are  all  pursuing  the  same  phantom,  and  all  de- 
pend for  support  on  the  same  treacherous  parent.  The  congregation 
of  such  avast  horde  of  human  beings,  bound  to  the  community  by  no 
ties,  and  obnoxious  to  continual  delusion  and  disappointment,  may 
be  justly  ranked  among  the  most  alarming  evils  of  the  lottery  system. 

The  Combination  plan  of  lotteries,  now  and  for  several  years  past 
in  use,  by  which  the  fate  of  every  ticket  is  determined  in  a  few 
minutes — the  small  price  at  which  tickets  are  sold,  and  the  subdi- 
vision of  these  into  minute  fractions,  have  enhanced  the  evils  of  the 
system  in  a  degree  which  defies  calculation.  Children  are  tempted 
to  become  adventurers,  and  are  thus  initiated  into  a  most  ensnaring 
vice,  before  they  are  capable  of  appreciating  its  true  character  and 
danger. 

Frauds  of  various  kinds  are  continually  perpetrated.  Tickets 
drawn,  and  ascertained  to  be  blanks,  find  purchasers  among  the 
unwary  and  inexperienced.  Prizes  actually  drawn  are  sometimes 
deceptively  cashed,  as  of  much  smaller  than  their  real  value — the 
holder  supposing  that  he  has  received  all  to  which,  by  his  ticket,  he 
is  entitled.  Counterfeiting  tickets,  especially  by  the  alteration  of 
a  few  of  the  figures,  is  largely  practised".  And  it  is  a  common  prac- 
tice for  individuals  to  become  possessed  of  the  numbers  of  particular 
tickets,  and  the  names  of  the  purchasers  of  them,  living  without  the 
bounds  of  the  city,  and  having  secured  the  most  expeditious  means 


14. 

of  travelling,  to  wait  till  the  few  necessary  numbers  are  drawn,  and 
then  fly  with  so  much  dispatch  to  the  owners  of  such  tickets  as  to 
prevent  the  suspicion  of  a  trick,  and  become  the  purchasers,  proba- 
bly at  a  small  advance.  The  Committee  have  information  on  this 
subject,  which  warrants  the  belief  that  this  has  been  practised  for  a 
considerable  time,  and  to  a  large  extent,  and  throughout  many  parts 
of  the  Commonwealth. 

The  questions  naturally  arise,  what  has  been  the  origin  of  a  sys- 
tem fraught  with  so  much  mischief?  How  happens  it  to  have  been 
tolerated  among  a  free  and  enlightened  people?  The  true  and 
brief  answer  is,  that,  at  a  time  when  but  little  thirst  for  lottery  specu- 
lations was  felt,  and  before  the  present  mode  of  drawing,  which  pan- 
ders so  inordinately  to  the  appetite  for  gambling,  was  invented,  the 
Union  Canal  Company  was  authorized  to  raise  a  sum  of  money  to 
defray  the  interest  on  a  portion  of  the  stock  subscribed  for  the  con- 
struction of  a  canal.  That  the  sum  wanted  for  this  object  could  not 
exceed  27,000  dollars  annually — and  that,  for  the  inconsiderable 
amount  of  30,000  dollars  per  year,  this  Company  permit  two  citizens 
of  another  State,  the  proprietors  of  eight  other  lottery  grants,  to  raise 
without  limit,  as  much  money,  by  this  means,  as  they  may  find  it 
within  their  power  to  effect.  That,  to  such  a  degree  has  the  cre- 
dulity of  the  people  been  wrought  upon,  as  to  enable  these  repre- 
sentatives and  assignees  of  the  Company  to  offer  schemes  for  sale  in 
a  single  year,  of  the  value  of  5,338,220  dollars,  the  profits  of  which, 
being,  as  usual,  15  per  cent.,  are  equal  to  800,733  dollars,  in  the 
same  short  period.  Should  but  half  of  these  profits  be  realized, 
the  disproportion  between  what  is  received  by  the  Company  and 
the  Managers  of  the  Lotteries,  is  too  striking  to  require  particular 
comment. 

The  suggestion  of  a  fit  remedy  for  these  evils,  forms  the  con- 
cluding duty  imposed  on  the  Committee  by  the  resolution  under 
which  they  act.  From  the  remarks  already  submitted  on  the  laws 
relative  to  the  lottery  privileges  of  the  Union  Canal  Company,  a  sus- 
pension of  the  further  drawing  of  the  lotteries,  until  the  fund  now  in 
the  hands  of  the  Company,  derived  from  this  source,  shall  be  ex- 
hausted in  the  payment  of  the  interest  guarantied  by  the  State,  will 
occur  to  every  one  as  the  proper  and  obvious  remedy.  The  Com- 
mittee accordingly  recommend  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  will 
most  speedily  secure  this  end;  and  they  know  of  none  so  likely  to  be 
effectual,  as  an  application  for  legislative  interposition  in  the  manner 
indicated  in  the  Memorial  which  is  herewith  submitted. 


15 
MEMORIAL,. 


TO  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  COMMON- 

WEALTH OF  PENNSYLVANIA: 

The  Memorial  of  the  undersigned  Citizens  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania,  SHEWETH  : 

That,  in  calling  the  attention  of  your  Honorable  Bodies  to  the 
subject  of  Lotteries,  it  is  not  the  design  of  your  Memorialists  to 
enter  on  a  discussion  of  the  general  questions  connected  with  them  — 
a  discussion  which  is  quite  unnecessary,  since  it  is  now  universally 
admitted  that  Lotteries  are  of  a  highly  pernicious  tendency,  while, 
as  a  mode  of  raising  revenue,  they  are  the  very  worst,  most  extra- 
vagant and  most  wasteful,  that  can  be  devised. 

But  your  Memorialists  beg  leave  most  earnestly  to  represent  to 
your  Honorable  Bodies,  that  the  Lottery  System,  as  it  now  exists  in 
this  Commonwealth,  is  peculiarly  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the 
public  and  the  morals  of  the  community  :  that  the  evils  resulting 
from  that  system  have  of  late  years  increased  to  an  enormous  amount  : 
that  they  are  still  increasing  :  that  they  have  become  insufferable  : 
and  that  every  principle  of  justice,  policy,  and  humanity,  absolutely 
demands  legislative  interference  to  put  an  end  to  them. 

By  the  frequency  and  amount  of  the  schemes  offered  to  the  pub- 
lic, professedly  under  the  laws  of  the  State,  by  the  almost  unrestrain- 
ed sale  of  tickets  in  foreign  Lotteries,  and  by  the  arts  of  a  swarm 
of  lottery-venders,  the  spirit  of  adventure  is  unduly  roused,  and 
the  appetite  for  this  (one  of  the  worst)  species  of  gambling,  excited 
to  an  alarming  and  inordinate  extent. 

The  effects  are  to  be  traced  in  the  records  of  our  Insolvent  Courts 
—  in  our  Almshouses  and  Prisons  —  in  the  crowds  of  squalid  beings 
who  throng  to  the  periodical  drawings  —  in  the  tears  of  deserted 
wives,  of  destitute  widows,  of  helpless  orphans  —  and  in  the  ruined 
character  and  broken  fortunes  of  the  unhappy  men  who  have  been 
tempted  to  abandon  the  paths  of  useful  and  respectable  employ- 
ment, and  follow  —  whither  the  delusive  and  unholy  temptations  of 
the  Lottery  have  led  thousands  —  to  dishonesty  —  poverty  —  intempe- 
rance —  infamy,  and  destruction.  Your  memorialists  do  not  paint 
from  the  imagination.  They  pray  your  Honorable  Bodies  to  insti- 
tute a  serious  inquiry  into  the  facts,  and  the  result  of  such  an  in- 
quiry will  sustain  your  Memorialists  in  the  declaration,  which  they 
now  solemnly  repeat,  that  the  evils  of  the  Lottery  System  are  in- 
sufferable, and  that  every  principle  of  justice,  policy,  and  humanity, 
demands  the  interference  of  the  Legislature  to  put  an  end  to  them. 

Has  the  Commonwealth  an  interest  in  the  industry,  probity  and 
welfare  of  her  citizens  ?  The  Lottery  tends  to  destroy  them  all.  Is 


16 

it  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  to  prevent  crimes,  and  discourage  vice 
and  immorality,  and  is  it  true,  that  the  foundations  of  the  Republic 
are  sapped  when  the  morals  of  the  people  are  corrupted  ?  There  is 
no  more  fruitful  and  certain  source  of  corruption  than  the  Lottery, 
and  there  is  scarcely  in  the  catalogue,  a  crrhie,  a  vice,  or  an  immo- 
rality, of  which  it  is  not,  immediately,  or  remotely,  an  exciting 
cause.  Wastefulness,  peculation,  idleness,  the  habit  of  relying  for 
support  on  uncertain  gains,  to  be  obtained  without  exertion — pov- 
erty ;  these  are  often  among  its  direct  results :  intemperance,  gene- 
ral profligacy,  loss  of  character — the  extinguishment  of  the  moral 
sense — the  commission  of  the  higher  crimes — are  some  of  its  more 
distant  consequences. 

By  several  Acts  of  Assembly,  the  common  games  of  skill  and 
hazard,  at  which  money  is  staked  upon  equal  chances,  are  strictly 
forbidden,  and  the  prohibition  has  even  been  extended  to  many  health- 
ful and  manly  sports  which  were  known  or  believed  to  afford  occasions 
for  gaming ;  while  the  Lottery  alone — that  gigantic  fiend — is  per- 
mitted to  infest  all  our  borders,  under  the  mask  of  the  law  itself, 
tempting  to  perdition  thousands  of  the  unwary,  the  ignorant,  and  the 
simple,  and  desolating  the  hearths  and  hearts  of  their  innocent  fami- 
lies and  connections. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  statue  book  are  to  be  found  enactments  against 
all  Lotteries  not  authorized  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  but  even  those 
enactments  are  known  to  be  habitually  disregarded  :  it  is  for  your 
Honorable  Bodies  to  determine  whether  they  shall  continue  to  be 
violated  with  impunity. 

The  ill  which  has  been  done  cannot  now  be  repaired,  but  it  is  in  the 
power  of  the  Legislature,  in  the  present  case,  to  -destroy  the  source 
of  future  evil,  by  preventing  the  farther  continuance  of  the  Lottery 
now  conducted  within  the  State,  and  providing  sufficient  sanctions 
to  secure  the  due  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  all  Lotteries. 

Your  Memorialists  do  not  ask  for  a  violation  of  the  faith  of  the 
Commonwealth  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  wish  that  faith  to  be  preserved, 
and  confidently  trust,  if  there  be  any  existing  vested  rights,  under 
former  laws,  in  a  corporation  or  individuals,  which  will  be  affected 
by  the  measures  now  prayed  for,  that  the  Legislature  will  make 
such  compensation  to  the  parties  interested,  as  may  be  just  and 
equitable,  and  sanctioned  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  and 
will  not  refuse  the  payment  (if  it  should  be  found  necessary)  of  a 
comparatively  paltry  sum  from  the  public  treasury,  for  the  attain- 
ment of  a  great  and  paramount  public  benefit. 

Your  Memorialists  do  therefore  most  earnestly  pray  that  your 
Honorable  Bodies  will  adopt  prompt  and  efficient  measures  for  the 
entire  abolition  of  Lotteries — for  preventing  the  frauds  and  evils 
which  attend  them,  and  for  the  adequate  punishment  of  those  who 
shall  persist  in  advertising  or  selling  Lottery  Schemes  or  Tickets, 
in  violation  and  contempt  of  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth. 
And  your  Memorialists,  &c. 


AN  INITIAL  PINE  OP  25  CENTS 


Gaylamount 

Pamphlet 

Binder 

G.yU.rd  Bro...  1°' 

Stockton,  Calif. 

T.M.Re9.U.S.Pa«.°«- 


97490S 


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